GNX2 Review

For individuals into digital recording, the GNX2 provides an S/PDIF digital output allowing direct connectivity to these devices. The GNX2 has 64 user and 64 factory presets as well as Learn-A-Lick? and Rhythm Trainer practice tools.

GNX2
Reviewed by:
korn56, on january 03, 2006 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 199.99

Purchased from: Musicians Friend

Ease of Use: This thing is relative easy to use, but if you want your own tones, effects or distortions you will need to edit the patches. Editing patches is really easy but if you don't know what the hell is a chorus or phaser you better look somewhere else or try something smaller like a cheap Zoom. // 9

Sound: I'm running this with a BC Rich M7 warlock special series and a Kustom Quad100dfx and you can get every sound you may looking for (metal distortions, cleans, choruses, Whammy pedal). You can get infinite tones from this thing there are too many things you can edit that I haven't used them all (I bought about a 1 1/2 year ago). One of the things I hate so much is the noise gate, shouts everything very well but when fading out it cuts the sustain suddenly. Another thing I hate is the wah is very weak and very simple but I almost never use it, I have my own wah (dime cry baby) before this pedal. And another last thing I hate is that when changing between patches there are a very short lap of silence, no big deal but for those songs that you need to change the effects quickly, it sucks! // 9

Reliability & Durability: I would use it on a gig surely, it's a metal case and plastic pedals. // 10

Overall Impression: I play mainly metal (In Flames, God Forbid, Killswitch Engage), some clean sounds and fits my purposes very well. I've been playing 4 years and this is my second multieffects pedal and is a very good improvement to my crappy plastic poorly manufactured Zoom 606, but I think there no perfect multieffects pedal, just search for the one that suits you. If it were stolen I would try something else like a Korg or a Boss. I love the distortions you can get from this thing with the amp models and stompboxes modeler heaven is the limit. I hate the noise gate and the V-switch that seems is no working anymore and some other features would make of this an excellent pedal. I bought this because when I saw it at the catalog I liked the features (Whammy pedal and stompboxes modeler) and was pretty cheap because it was a closeout. You may search for this product at eBay. // 9

GNX2
Reviewed by:
westo, on august 11, 2006 1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Ease of Use: There are already 64 factory presets and 64 user presets able to be edited. There are some great settings that I haven't edited yet simply because I like them so much. It's very simple to edit the patches and the manual explains it very thoroughly (but no one reads the manual except for me). Hundreds and hundreds of distortions and effects mean you can never run out of ideas. The expression pedal can be pressed down to activate the v-Switch which turns on wah-wah whenever needed. You can add wah-wah, change the pickups, add compression, add Whammy or IPS (Intelligent Pitch Shifting), use the Stompbox, use the equalizer, use the noise gate (which filters out unwanted noise), add chorus or mudulator effects, add delay with a push of one pedal, add crazy reverb settings; and change setting of the expression pedal so that it not only covers volume and wah-wah, but also the Whammy and other things. You can bypass through the effect pedal, use the tunner on the effect pedal, and use learn-a-lick by just pressing two of the pedals symultaneously. // 10

Sound: I am using an Epiphone Firebird VII, into this GNX2, into my Fender FM 212R. There aren't any noisy settings that I have found yet. The effects are of DigiTech quality, as in they are not anything special. They aren't very "full" sounding and they sound very cheap. However, that doesn't mean you can't get any awesome sounds out of it. I've made settings for bands like Led Zeppelin, Cream, GN'R, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Acoustic settings, Iron Butterfly, some cool fuzz settings that I love, and the preset setting called "Rifmatic" is funny and very cool at the same time. The wah wah is pretty good when used on a clean setting but looses it's quality while used with distortion to get some Kirk Hammet sounds. Many of the distortions have great sounds, but the fuzz amp setting lacks in the fullness that I have been looking for. // 6

Reliability & Durability: This effect pedal is very reliable. It is made of metal and plastic and doesn't seem like it would ever fall apart on me. I would definately use it in a gig without any backups. If I ever got anything higher quality, however, I would use this one as the backup. // 10

Overall Impression: I play blues, classic rock, rock n roll, and some metal and this GNX2 covers those and many many more. I've been playing for about 2 1/2 years and have owned this for about a year now. I wish I would have tried the product first before assuming that the effects were high quality. If it were lost, I would buy a higher quality Vox or Boss multi effect pedal than DigiTech. I like the fact that there are many settings and I haven't ever run out of ideas, but the quality of the sounds is just not very high caliber at all. I didn't compare this to anything else. I wish it came with a $100 inside of the body so that I could get my money back. // 5

GNX2
Reviewed by:
TitoKK, on july 27, 2010 0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Price paid: $ 370

Purchased from: Metropolis Music Center

Ease of Use: The DigiTechGNX2 was and still is a very professional sounding multiFX unit. I upgraded this from a crappy sounding Zoom multi FX, that never gave me the sounds I was looking for.
You can virtually teak the thing to give you any sound you imagine. With this said, it does take some time to get the "right" sound and there are several variables apart from the pedal (amp, speaker, guitar, Pick up) that will influence the outcome. It is NOT an easy unit to use at firt. You will need to read the manual thoroughly to get an idea of what you can tweak and how far can you go. The manual is a simple read, but it's not as specific as I would've like it to be.
Editing patches (forming your own sounds and saving them) is the real deal with any competent multi FX and at this, the GNX2 is awesome. Again, getting the sound you want will take some time. Whoever says you can get the "right sound " in no time is lying or has been playing guitar for 2 seconds. Even seasoned musicians struggle to get that "right sound". The GNX2 offered back in the early 2000's what has become THE norm in most multiFX pedals: amp mixing. Let's say you love the low end crunch of a Mesa Boogie Dual Recto, but at the same time, you'd like to spice the sound up with some mid range crunch that only Marshall can offer. You can mix both amps and determine if you want a 50/50 mix or something different. Plus, you can tweak the eq, speaker resonance and cabinet size for each amp. To the overall mix, you can add chorus, noise gate, additional eq, reverb, etc. Taking the proper time, you can create patches for specific guitars, songs and sound amazing. // 7

Sound: As mentioned above, the pedal itself is not enough to create that "right" sound. The GNX2 can make a crappy sounding combo sound more expensive, and a regular amp like a full blown pro rig. The GNX2 needs to be told "where" are you going to plug it: straight into the mixing board? In the amp's loop? Into a 2x12 Vintage Fender Twin Reverb or a Marshall half stack? All these variables are extremely important. Let's say you leave your heavy ass, Marshall/Mesa Boogie/Peavy half stack at the rehearsal room and at home you jam on a teeny weeny, cheap (but faithful) solid state combo? You bring your GNX2 home because you want to create a patch for a solo, using your single coil guitar and want to add harmonies. You create the patch using your crappy combo and the next day you plug your GNX2 to your REAL practice amp and whoaa! It sounds TOTALLY different! Although this applies to most multiFX, rarely someone mentions it.
The presets for distortions are really good. You have a metal zone, tube screamer, fuzz box, etc... But in all truth, you can get a better crunch by tweaking the amp emulators on the GNX2.
On the bad side, you can only use chorus, delay or flanger ONE at a time, so if you're into doing weird, multi FX parts a la Pink FloYD you might be in for some limitations. Aside of that, the FX are solid and very warm sounding. // 9

Reliability & Durability: The GNX2 has NEVER let me down. It would help to keep it ventilated with a floor fan, since it runs quite hot over time. If there's one thing thats abosultely unreliable about this pedal is its power supply. Unfortunately, it's a 2.1 Amp device, which are EXTREMELY difficult to get (yes, even on E-Bay!) and once you do, they ARE expensive ($40 bucks or more).
I would definitely buy another GNX2 or higher if this one broke down or stole. // 9

Overall Impression: I play mostly classic thrash/death/hard alternative and I can get most of the sounds I want with ease, although it does take some time. For quiter stuff, mild pop or even jazzy stuff, the GNX2 is extremely versatile. As I said before, I use this mostly in live situations and only once for recording and at that, I was surprised at how well it sounded. I have a Mesa Dual Recto and, for a recording, I'd rather go with the recto's massive distortion, but this FX unit is no slouch and sounds almost like the real thing.
I've been playing semi-pro for over 20 years and was never that much into FX pedals until I bought a Zoom 6060 from a friend. After years of tweaking the thing to death, I ended up selling it and bought the GNX2 based on research and one trial. If this 8 year old multiFX sounds this good, I can only imagine how the newer models will sound.
Good job DigiTech! Keep it up! // 9

I've been using the GNX2 for over 6 years now and everyday I love it more. I used to be a kinda "anti FX" guy; I would plug my guitar straight into the amp and thrash away. Over the years, of course, I wanted to try different stuff, specially in a live situation. Once you get the basic idea of what you can do with this multiFX, you can almost replicate any sound in your head. For a transistor based pedal, the overdriven/distorted sounds are crushing and very natural sounding (close to plugging straight into a really overdriven Marshall or Mesa Recto), and the clean sounds are majestic.
One thing though: it is NOT easy to use at first. You really have to thoroughly read the manual and have it in hand at ALL times when tweaking sounds. To me, the presets are pretty much worthless, unless you play through a very basic amp. The pedal needs to be calibrated to go with the amp you're using. If you calibrate it using your $10 combo and then hook it up to a bigger amp with bigger cabinets/speakers, you're gonna get a WHOLE different sound!